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On March 20th, Anchor Bay Entertainment the original cult classic Battle Royale: The Complete Collection to Blu-ray and DVD for the first time in the U.S. Featuring state-of-the-art HD transfers, hi-res audio, and a wealth of bonus features that delve deep into the truly international phenomenon of this Cult Cinema Icon. One of the most controversial films in history, Battle Royale will also be released separately on Blu-ray and DVD. Battle Royale will also be available digitally via select outlets including iTunes and Xbox LIVE. Keep in mind that this is the first time ever Battle Royale will be available uncensored and unrated in America.

Battle Royale is a title that has shocked, thrilled and unnerved audiences upon its original release, with a fiendishly simple premise that has inspired many imitations, including the upcoming The Hunger Games motion picture. Based on the 1999 global best-seller by Koushun Takami, the futuristic tale first came to the screen in 2000, directed by the legendary Kinju Fukasaku. Authors, filmmakers and film fans the world over consider the film and its 2003 sequel Battle Royale II: Requiem sacred cinematic classics.

In the near future, the economy has collapsed, unemployment has soared and juvenile crime has exploded. Fearful of their nation’s youth, the Japanese government passes The BR Law: Each year, a 9th grade class is sent to a remote island where they will be locked into exploding neck collars, given a random weapon, and forced to hunt and kill each other until there is only one survivor left. Chiaki Kuriyama (Kill Bill) and screen legend Takeshi Kitano (Boiling Point, Brother) star in the movie that has been argued, acclaimed and banned around the world. More than a decade later, it remains one of the most savage, shocking and emotionally powerful films of all time. Now experience the complete Director’s Cut of Kinji Fukasaku’s uncompromising masterpiece – nominated for 10 Japanese Academy Awards – available uncensored and unrated for the first time ever in America.

In 2000, director Kinji Fukasaku unleashed Battle Royale, his violently poetic epic about an innocent group of Junior High students forced by the government to hunt and kill their classmates for sport. It was nominated for 10 Japanese Academy Awards, launched a global phenomenon, and banned from screens by frightened civic groups and distributors across America. Three years later, the equally disturbing sequel – featuring a new class, new rules, and a brutal terrorist plot by the first film’s young survivors – triggered its own tragic firestorm around the world. Now for the first time ever, you can see it all: Experience the entire Battle Royale saga on 4 discs that forever blasts open one of the most potent, shocking and savagely influential sagas in motion picture history.

Director’s Cut with Japanese and English language and English subtitles

With impeccable direction by three-time Director of the year Kinji Fukasaku, and featuring high-quality acting performances from every angle, Battle Royale: The Complete Collection is as cunning as it is ruthless, offering a unique and brutal depiction of what people are capable of when imminent death is everywhere you look.

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